By: Mike Koury | Woodward Talk | Published May 5, 2026
FERNDALE — The city of Ferndale currently is researching whether to move forward with a pilot project to introduce a valet parking program.
At its April 27 meeting, Downtown Development Authority Executive Director Jennie Beeker presented before the City Council a proposal to introduce a valet parking program to the downtown.
As presented by Beeker, the DDA requested to reserve and lease 34 public parking spaces for a pilot program that would be conducted over three months. According to city documents, the reserved area would include on-street spaces on Bermuda Street near Vester Avenue, where the drop-off and pick-up location would be, but the majority is located in the parking lot between City Hall and the Ferndale Area District Library.
Looking at the public parking lot inventory, Beeker said the lot behind Como’s Restaurant tends to fill up first and stay at capacity. The library parking lot is the next to fill up and stay at a high capacity, and the aforementioned City Hall and library lot fills up last and is often under capacity.
The valet pilot project was identified in December as a positive promotion due to the convenience factor. People could have a bit more of a guarantee to be closer to the businesses that they are trying to visit, Beeker said.
“We also wanted to keep this at a pretty affordable rate even though it is a special service, but we aren’t looking to make a profit on this,” she said. “We are looking to support the businesses in a time of need with this program.”
For the proposal, the three-month pilot, approved at a cost of $30,000 at the maximum, would operate on Thursdays through Saturdays from 6 p.m. to midnight for a flat rate of $10.
Though there were businesses that voiced their support to the DDA and city on the plan, some also voiced their displeasure, as conveyed by City Manager Colleen O’Toole, because it would reduce the number of available parking spots.
“The comments from that group are that they wish for the City Hall parking lot to be considered perhaps to increase the availability of long-term parking or employee parking, as well as for the city and DDA to focus more on creating additional spaces, as opposed to just reusing spaces for a different purpose,” she said. “Not trying to undermine the validity of any opportunities that are presented to us, but I think it’s fair that we represent those individuals who have very recently expressed strong positions.”
An opportunity highlighted by O’Toole would be to use approximately eight to nine on-street spaces that could be created on Bermuda for long-term parking spaces.
City Council member Rolanda Kelley voiced her support for this option as opposed to the valet.
“I’d be more comfortable with that than certainly the valet. It just kind of seems like a wash and … the businesses don’t want it as is,” she said. “I’d feel more comfortable if it wasn’t taking away from the existing parking that we had.
O’Toole later told the Woodward Talk that the city would continue to look for somewhere that could stage the vehicles so it doesn’t take away from the existing parking. To do this, they would need to enter into an agreement with a private property owner; they are looking to have conversations with Credit Union One, located at 400 E. Nine Mile Road, to see if it would be interested.
“If we can’t find a way to structure this that it adds spaces, it probably doesn’t make sense to move forward with something,” she said. “The other thing is, if we’re going to talk about utilizing spaces and existing lots, we want to talk first about whether we’re maximizing the usage of those lots in the first place. So, something else that’s on the table is maybe making changes to try and encourage employees of downtown businesses to park in some of the lots that are a little bit further away from the strips, like the City Hall parking lot or The dot in order to leave more spaces open for visitors.”
Mayor Pro Tem Laura Mikulski shared during the meeting her interest in reassessing the idea after the city has meetings with the bank.
“I don’t want to say no. I just want to see if we can work on this more permanent solution that actually doesn’t tie up our spaces,” she said.
The entire conversation on valet parking can be found during the council’s April 27 meeting on the city’s YouTube channel.